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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25819123">a glint among the trees</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboyjones/pseuds/cowboyjones'>cowboyjones</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, MAN idek what to tag this KSDJFHDS, OH they/them akaashi, Pining, Secret Admirer, but no one knows that its fantasy it isnt a Known Fact that fantastical things exist, it takes place like........ before trains, knight/guard bokuto, maybe a little after the bronze age.. swords exist but advanced metal armor doesnt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:42:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,700</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25819123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboyjones/pseuds/cowboyjones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There they are again. </p><p>Bokuto shifted in his hiding spot behind the tree. He technically shouldn’t even be hiding behind the tree, he should be standing guard at the city's wall. If his higher-ups found out he was slacking on his shift, he’d be fired or worse.</p><p>-</p><p>Bokuto is a distractible guard who's tasked to stand at the city's walls. But he can't help but go into the forest that lies just a few feet away. Who he meets, or more so 'spots,' keeps him wandering back into the forest.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. lemongrass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i got this idea in my head and i couldn't not write it KJSDHF i hope you enjoy :&gt; !!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There they are again.</p><p>Bokuto shifted in his hiding spot behind the tree. He technically shouldn’t even be hiding behind the tree, he should be standing guard at the city’s wall. If his higher-ups found out he was slacking on his shift, he’d be fired or worse.</p><p>The figure moved, crouching at the river as they sifted their hand through the water.</p><p>Bokuto inched his way around the tree, tip-toeing to a tree a few feet ahead.</p><p>He had yet to get a good glimpse of the figure and now could be his chance.</p><p>He tried figuring out who they were or… even what they were, honestly, but his research had come up dry.</p><p>He’d been analyzing every detail of them, hoping to gain an understanding but mostly because he was fascinated with their appearance.</p><p>They wore very flowy garments with colors to match their surroundings. Their face looked soft to the touch, Bokuto never got a true sighting of their face but he imagined it felt of silk. He wanted to believe it by the way the sun draped itself over their face, like the sun had never truly shone before it met their skin.</p><p>Bokuto’s face warmed at the thought. He’d been admiring them for a few weeks now and his thoughts only became increasingly embarrassing the longer he went on observing them. It wasn’t in a creepy way, he wasn’t spying on them with any mal-intent. It was just that he’d never seen them before, in all his years of guarding the same shift, and he instantly became intrigued.</p><p>The first time he saw the figure, he had clocked in just before dawn, growing bored within the first few hours. A deer had trot past him, there was no one around to reason him into staying at his spot so he followed after the deer into the deep forest.</p><p>It wasn’t the first time he ventured into the forest despite knowing he shouldn’t. He had trouble standing still, let alone for six hours in the same spot. He didn’t tell the higher-ups about his wandering habits, he never would.</p><p>Following the deer, he found a light stream. He would have pursued walking right up to it but a figure was sitting cross-legged by the stream.</p><p>Bokuto’s feet stopped at an instant, he slid stealthily behind a tree, not wanting to alert the figure in case they recognized him as a guard. But once he solidified his hiding place, it felt like hours passed as he stood there, flicking his eyes around the scene.</p><p>The way time passed, it dragged out as honey did when he tipped a jar of it into his tea that morning. But it didn’t feel like the snail-like crawl Bokuto experienced when guarding. This was different.</p><p>Observing the figure was… calming. They didn’t move too much, their eyes were committedly closed with a single eye peeking open to glance at something before it shut once again. Their hair curled up at the ends in a fascinating way, he traced the route the ends took over and over and over.</p><p>Their head swiveled every so often, turning at noises Bokuto couldn’t seem to identify when he attempted to hone in on the supposed noise.</p><p>He didn’t get to see their eyes, he wished he could have though. He imagined their eyes were just as capturing as the rest of them.</p><p>He hadn’t known how long he had been standing there. His shift could have been truthfully over with. He hated coming to the conclusion that his walk back had to happen sooner rather than later, he could have watched the figure forever.</p><p>But there was no forever, so Bokuto would wander into the forest in the moments he could get away with without losing his job… or his life at that.</p><p>Bokuto blinked his eyes, the figure’s hand stilling made Bokuto refocus his previously zoned out eyes.</p><p>They retracted their hand from where it was previously running through the river. Their knees straightened out as they stood up, they turned, walking into the river, clothes and all.</p><p>Bokuto grew concerned that they would become sick later on, especially with the thin clothing but he knew, were he to say something, he would give away his presence.</p><p>The figure sat there for minutes, hours, who could know. He soaked in every detail the way the figure’s clothes soaked up the water of the river.</p><p>But the difference was that when the figure stood up, they walked out without a single droplet on them, their clothes dry as the sun. Bokuto felt the urge to rush up to them and ask how they got their hands on water resistant clothes.</p><p>The figure rested against the trunk of a tree, fiddling with the grass that surrounded them.</p><p>Bokuto observed with near fondness. That was also something about the figure. Without fail, the figure always did endearing things even when they were simple actions.</p><p>Animals would run up to them often, squeaking, nudging, squawking, etc. demanding that the figure perform some activity with them. They also often sat against trees, as they were now, and would pet the animal that would drop its head into their lap, awaiting the inevitable scratches.</p><p>The longer Bokuto hid behind the tree, the more aware he grew of how long he had been away. He was less sure about his path back, seeing as he went deeper into the forest than he ever had in the past few weeks. He hadn’t been able to find the figure by the stream, so he had scoured the forest hoping to catch even a glimpse of them. Also hoping to whoever looked down on them from the clouds, that the figure wouldn’t see him before he saw them.</p><p>He sighed internally, he didn’t want to but if he wanted to make it on time, he would have to start his walk back.</p><p>Trudging back as quietly as possible, he avoided stepping on twigs, and narrowly escaping bangs to the head from hanging tree branches. On his way to the figure, he mentally placed marks so he wouldn’t get lost but if he was honest, the figure completely distracted him, erasing the memory of the markers.</p><p>Nothing about his surroundings looked familiar. Bokuto wanted to make a noise in frustration but stopped himself, remembering there was a possibility that the figure was still able to hear him from the way his head quirked every which way at noises he couldn’t hear.</p><p>He continued walking along, his foot occasionally being snagged on the odd stick or jutting out tree root but he always freed himself loose, landing on both feet.</p><p>Until he didn’t.</p><p>Despite all his effort put into not stepping on any twigs, he hadn’t managed to see the ravine his entire body was forced by gravity to fall down into.</p><p>He stuck out his hands, desperately trying to slow his fall as he yelled out, “oh, shit!”</p><p>He felt shallow skin tearing at sharp rocks and particularly pointy sticks. He dreaded the bruises that would undoubtedly show up, he couldn’t fathom having to explain the reason he had the injuries without mentioning his wandering.</p><p>Thankfully, he came to a stop but his gratefulness only reached so far. His palms were budding up with blood, knees scuffed up but not bleeding. To his relief, his head was mainly unharmed, just a few splotches of dirt coating his face, slight throbbing but no pinching pain.</p><p>He placed a palm on the ground, hissing at the pain but he had to get up so he would have to ignore it. His knees bent, wobbling a little but they slowly straightened.</p><p>“Ahem.” </p><p>Ahem?</p><p>Bokuto looked up from where he had been focusing on the floor, trying not to drop. Seeing just exactly who had spoken, his legs gave out and he fell back to the floor with an ‘umph.’</p><p>His eyes dragged up from the voice’s legs all the way up to the enchanting face staring down at him.</p><p>It was them, it was the figure.</p><p>The figure he’d been admiring for weeks, they now stood before him with arms behind their back, a calm face but the ghost of a curious glint hung in their eyes.</p><p>Oh, their eyes.</p><p>They were beautiful, like he had imagined they would be but nothing of what he expected. The shine of them was similar to when the moon hit the vast open sea at midnight. He could stare at them for years if the figure were to allow him.</p><p>Bokuto clambered back onto his feet, but he didn’t say anything.</p><p>The figure eyed him up and down, Bokuto felt the figure’s stare but he didn’t dare say anything, scared it would send them away so he remained silent.</p><p>The figure’s clothes were even more impressive up close. The light blue of the shawl that wrapped around their forearms had a pattern Bokuto had never seen before. It looked close to snow but there was no way it was actually.</p><p>Blue highlights appeared when the sun touched it, Bokuto figured from the past few weeks of not being able to see the highlights, that you wouldn’t be able to see that unless you were, at the very least, five feet away from them.</p><p>“What are you doing out here?” The figure spoke, their voice deep but unbelievably soft. Bokuto tilted his head in confusion, seeing that they spoke again, “your clothing. You’re a guard.”</p><p>Bokuto stammered, “u-uh well,” he would have to lie, there was no way he could tell the figure he was in the forest to stare at him.</p><p>Sucking in a small breath, he rubbed the back of his neck, wincing a little at his bruised and bloodied palms. “I’ve been sent to look for a ring that one of the higher-ups lost out here. I’ve been looking around and haven’t been able to find it, I was going back now.” He hoped his bravado of fake confidence convinced the figure.</p><p>The figure didn’t say anything, just passively looking with an analyzing stare. “Is that so…?”</p><p>“Yup!” He said with a grin.</p><p>The figure hummed, hands unclasping from their back to come to the front, tangling themselves again. “I could help you.”</p><p>Bokuto regretted lying. He would have to agree but then again if he agreed, he could spend actual time with the figure! But he would be wasting their time on an endless goose chase because there was no ring to begin with. Bokuto looked into the figure’s eyes and he knew he was about to make the emotional decision.</p><p>“That would be great!”</p><p>They walked in silence. When the figure turned their head in his direction, Bokuto pretended to look at the ground in search. But most of the time he was looking at the figure. He tried to be stealthy about it, looking at them in glances but he mourned the full look he could be getting.</p><p>The figure cleared their throat, they kept their eyes on him. Grateful to have the excuse, he didn’t dare look away either. “What is your name?”</p><p>He smiled, “Bokuto Koutarou!” The figure nodded, humming. Bokuto smiled, but spluttered when he nearly forgot to take the chance to finally put a name to their face, “oh- uh, and yours?”</p><p>“Akaashi Keiji,” their head turned, looking ahead to continue the search.</p><p>Akaashi Keiji… it fit.</p><p>“Well, Akaashi, do you live out here?”</p><p>“Yes,” they nodded.</p><p>“That must be nice.” he said with a sigh, he wished he could live in the forest. He felt less antsy the moment he walked into the abyss of trees. But of the times he’d gone into the forest, he never spotted Akaashi in a home. “Oh, but I haven’t seen a house around here, where do you live?!”</p><p>“Close to here,” they answered vaguely.</p><p>They stopped at a small river, Bokuto looked at his reflection, Akaashi’s face appeared next to his.</p><p>“You have some cuts, Bokuto-san. Would you like to wash them now?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah! Good thinking Akaashi, the last thing I need is an infection.” He laughed as he crouched down, pooling up water in a curved hand, letting the water run down his arms.</p><p>Akaashi sat on the ground, eyes closed as they placed their slender hands in the water. They probably wanted to wash away any grime they had accumulated, he understood.</p><p>Bokuto’s hands switched onto auto-pilot as he openly stared at Akaashi. The shade of the trees mostly covered Akaashi, sun breaching through the leaves and splintering onto Akaashi.</p><p>Akaashi opened their eyes, staring at Bokuto but he could only notice how the sun inflamed the deep blue eyes they had.</p><p>Bokuto’s hands stilled, Akaashi’s hands continued resting in the river. They stared at each other, Bokuto welcomed it though, he didn’t understand why Akaashi would. Akaashi’s look reminded him of the inner mechanisms of a clock.</p><p>“Are you finished, Bokuto-san?”</p><p>“Y-Yeah!” He quickly got up to his feet, “all done,” he said sheepishly under Akaashi’s stare.</p><p>“Very good.” Akaashi stood as well, turning on their shoeless heels to pursue the search.</p><p>They continued searching, Akaashi didn’t look visibly annoyed at how long it was taking but Bokuto found out he wasn’t able to read Akaashi at all, no matter how hard he tried.</p><p>Bokuto needed to get back soon, he’d already been gone for longer than he should have when he was just hiding behind the tree. But it’s been about an hour, at least that’s how long it’s felt, it could have been longer.</p><p>He didn’t want to go, he was ecstatic that he was finally able to be around Akaashi. Akaashi wasn’t much of a talker, which he didn’t mind. Bokuto talked plenty and he was wary that Akaashi would grow annoyed with his incessant talking but Akaashi seemed to be listening. They would hum or give a short but direct response to what he would be talking about.</p><p>Sighing, he decided that he would have to leave. “Hey, Akaashi?”</p><p>“Yes, Bokuto-san.”</p><p>Involuntarily, Bokuto smiled, it wasn’t the first time he heard them say his name but he liked the way Akaashi said it.</p><p>“I think I have to get back now, would you mind showing me to the stream?” He clamped his eyes shut, waiting for Akaashi to reject his request.</p><p>“Sure.” Bokuto peeked an eye open, Akaashi didn’t look annoyed. They looked more… regretful?</p><p>They both walked back silently, with the exception of Bokuto pointing out different things and Akaashi nodding in response.</p><p>Bokuto heard the stream’s familiar trickling, he frowned. He hoped they would meet and talk again, he didn’t want to go back to observing them from a distance. 
Stopping beside the stream, neither made any kind of move to leave.</p><p>“Um,” Akaashi spoke softly, looking up at Bokuto. “I’m sorry we did not find the ring, Bokuto-san.”</p><p>“No problem!” He couldn’t believe Akaashi had even offered to help in the first place in full honesty. “I’ll come back tomorrow to look, it’s gotta be around here somewhere.” He laughed, hiding his regrettable lie.</p><p>“I can help look again, if you would like. If you call for me, I will find you.”</p><p>He resented the thought of wasting more of Akaashi’s time but he grew more excited by the second at the prospect of seeing them and actually talking again!</p><p>“Yeah! Sounds great, thanks a bunch, Akaashi!” He beamed.</p><p>Akaashi’s mouth opened slightly just to close again, they looked to the floor, hands shifting at their side. Bokuto’s hand twitched at the desire to hold their hand.</p><p>“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow Bokuto-san,” they said curtly bowing. They turned, walking in the opposite direction of the stream.</p><p>“See ya, Akaashi!” He waved with the newfound energy he gained from Akaashi agreeing to meet with him the next day.</p><p>Akaashi’s head turned, eyes catching Bokuto’s and then Akaashi did something that froze Bokuto’s waving arm.</p><p>Akaashi’s lips pulled upward, a faint smile appearing.</p><p>A smile, Akaashi was smiling. Smiling at him.</p><p>Bokuto’s face warmed into a blazing red, he was frozen in place.</p><p>Had it been anyone else, he wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction. But in the past few weeks, he had only ever seen Akaashi’s smile directed at small animals that approached them or when an animal tumbled over.</p><p>But what hit Bokuto the hardest was the realization that Bokuto wanted to see it again. He wanted to be the reason they smiled, smiling so hard they complained that their cheeks hurt. He wanted to make them laugh too, he wanted to make them laugh so hard they toppled over, wiping tears from their eyes.</p><p>He didn’t claim to understand the reason for Akaashi’s sudden smile, but he could only hope for it to happen again.</p><p>Bokuto’s arm fell down from where it hung in the air. Lost in thought, he ran his fingers across his palm, searching for the newly ripped skin. He didn’t feel anything though, he drew his hand up to his face, where he could closely inspect it.</p><p>The scars weren’t there, not even a trace. Nothing on his hands hinted that he had ever fallen down the ravine. He looked at his arms, his knees: gone. Every scar was gone, even the pain that came with a healing scar was gone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. lungs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had to be around there somewhere.</p><p>Bokuto crouched to his knees, rifling through the mess of clothes and random scraps of paper on the floor. </p><p>Akaashi would expect to find a ring tomorrow and Bokuto felt guilty for wasting their time. He had decided on his walk home that he would plant a ring of his in the forest.</p><p>But he couldn’t find the ring anywhere he looked. It was possible he lost it on his last outing with the ring, if he did, the memory of it escaped him. </p><p>Two firm knocks from the front door rebounded off the walls, causing Bokuto to fall flat on his face in surprise.</p><p>“Bokuto? You in there, dear?” </p><p>Bokuto jumped to his feet, running to the door, swinging it open to see his neighbor, Kono-san, standing patiently with a basket in hand.</p><p>“Kono-san!” He jumped, stretching out his arms for a hug. But before he could he was stopped by Kono-san’s hand pressing against his chest.</p><p>He tipped his head in confusion, she normally would let him hug her. In explanation, she pointed to the basket in her hand.</p><p>“Bokuto, dear, do you want to knock over the food I've slaved over to feed you with?” Kono-san said in dramatics. He chuckled, she always did like to mess with Bokuto.</p><p>“Kono-san... you didn’t need to bring food,” he whined. A puffed chest accompanied with a raised chin, he confidently claimed: “I’m a very good cook!” </p><p>She grinned, shaking her head, “I’ve tried your cooking, dear. Despite our dinners, you may as well be skin and bone. Now, come, let’s eat.” </p><p>She walked past him into the kitchen, unfolding the cloth that held their dinner. He stood there with pursed lips and fidgeting fingers, feeling the need to defend himself. He worked out plenty, albeit because of his job but regardless he had pretty sizable muscles. </p><p>But he knew that in comparison to her own children, he could be described as frail. They were much more buff and tall than he was, despite Kono-san being much shorter than him. He’d never met her husband, he passed away a year or two before Bokuto moved into the city but she always told him with fondness that her husband used to be the tallest in all their classes.</p><p>He sighed, shaking his head as he chuckled to himself, letting go of any protest his mind still held to join Kono-san.</p><p>Turning the corner into the kitchen, he quickly gathered plates and chopsticks for them. He rubbed the pad of his finger against the grooves of the plates. He smiled, remembering that they were the same plates and chopsticks he’d had for years now. Kono-san had bought them for him when she found out he was only eating handheld food from street vendors because he had no dishes or utensils.</p><p>When he first moved to the city, it was his first time being away from his parents. He had been feeling disoriented, so he decided to wander around to try and get familiar with the new city he would call home for a long while. He had come back home that night just to lie in his unfurnished living room. He had felt increasingly lonely as the day trekked on and was starting to regret his move. </p><p>But Kono-san had knocked on his door, as she had done minutes ago. She came offering food and sake when she noticed he hadn’t come home with any food in tow. They had dinner that night; any feeling of regret vanished as the night filled with deafening laughs and countless stories hanging in the air. </p><p>Because of her generosity that night, he had felt less lonely and he continued to be thankful for her presence in his life. He knew Kono-san felt the same, though she would never say it; her gratitude was left unsaid and mutually understood between them. Over the years, Bokuto learned she wasn’t someone who willingly revealed much about herself, but he knew that she felt less lonely too.</p><p>“You’re not eating, Bokuto,” she frowned. “Is it the food? You’ve never complained about my food.”</p><p>“No, no!” He exclaimed, desperate to prove her train of thought wrong. She nodded, but raised an eyebrow, confused and asking for him to continue. He sighed, “I’ve been trying to find a ring I’ve lost somewhere in here. It has a green gemstone and a gold band, it’s really pretty Kono-san!’ He tacked on distractedly.</p><p>“I’m sure,” a gentle smile grew, her wrinkled cheeks folding together. “Where was it last?”</p><p>“Right, that’s the thing! I’ve searched everywhere and I can’t find it,” he pouted, flopping onto his back, accidentally kicking the kotatsu, earning a hiss from Kono-san.</p><p>“Well, lying down in pity won’t find it, eat first,” she scolded. “Then you can continue to search for it.” </p><p>He nodded, dragging himself back upright to consume the piping hot, but mouth-watering dishes she brought.</p><p> </p><p>Kono-san excused herself to the washroom as he cleaned their dishes. He wasn’t usually responsible enough to clean the dishes right away, but he knew he would get reprimanded by Kono-san if he didn’t. </p><p>“Bokuto?” </p><p>The bathroom door opened, he dried the last dish, placing it in the rack. </p><p>“Is this it?” Kono-san asked.</p><p>“Is that what?” He wiped his hands on the hanging towel, peering his head over to see what Kono-san was talking about.</p><p>“The ring, is this it?”</p><p>Kono-san was standing, one foot out of the bathroom, holding the glinting green and gold ring between her index finger and her thumb.</p><p>He had spent hours searching for the very ring Kono-san was holding so effortlessly and all it took Kono-san was an hour and a half of a hearty dinner and a shot or two of sake to find it.</p><p>“Yes!” He ran over, stumbling over his own feet. He opened his palm, letting Kono-san drop it into his. He twiddled the ring around, it was just as pretty as he remembered. </p><p>The green of the ring’s gemstone was a deep green, if he had to guess he would say it was an emerald. At first glance the color wasn’t much but in the light of the day, it looked the way honey tasted. </p><p>The gold band around it was finely detailed, the curves and indentations felt nice against the pad of his finger. </p><p>“Where’d you find it?!”</p><p>“Just on the bathroom sink, dear. Really, I thought you searched for a long time…” She teased, smirking.</p><p>His face warmed up, “Well- I, I did…” he muttered, embarrassed and unable to defend himself.</p><p>“Maybe keep it in a box next time,” she said, lightly elbowing his ribs. “Well, I’m off. Show me out, dear.”</p><p>“Of course!” He ran over to grab her basket from the kitchen where he had washed it. Setting down the basket, he grabbed her coat, opening it for her arms to slip into the sleeves. Picking up the basket, he swiftly handed it to her.</p><p>“Thank you for coming over, Kono-san,” he said genuinely.</p><p>“Of course, someone has to make sure you get fed,” she hummed. “Have a good night, Bokuto, next week I’ll bring some dessert, yeah?” </p><p>“Sounds great, Kono-san, thank you for the dinner. It was delicious, as always.” </p><p>She dipped her head, bowing slightly; Bokuto knew that was her thanking him for his company. </p><p>They waved to each other and once Kono-san became too small to determine, he closed the door. He leaned against the hard wooden door, content with the warm, familiar feeling he felt after their dinners. </p><p>-</p><p>Bokuto was lost.</p><p>Bokuto had jumped out of his sheets that morning, clocked in and running to his post in excitement. </p><p>He stood there until he couldn’t convince himself not to wander into the forest. </p><p>It was until he saw the smallest squirrel springing from tree to tree that drifted his thoughts to memories of Akaashi smiling at the small animals that came up to them that made him finally run into the forest.</p><p>He still had to hide the ring anyway, so it would have happened eventually, he reasoned. </p><p>He wandered around in every direction, so much so, he couldn’t tell where he was anymore. </p><p>Bokuto’s worries would be greater were it not for Akaashi’s promise of finding him if he called for them.</p><p>He, admittedly, was still confused by the promise. He couldn’t understand how they would find him but he decided he would just have to trust them. Otherwise he might break out into a panic attack. </p><p>Bokuto slumped by a tree in frustration, he couldn’t decide where to plant the ring. He wasn’t sure if the ring needed to be completely obvious or if it needed to end up somewhere hidden, like a tree branch or a nest of some kind. But he figured if it was too hidden, the story would be too confusing. </p><p>He distractedly ran his fingers through the grass while he thought. </p><p>Looking up to the trees, he saw a hole in the mess of leaves covering his view of the early morning sky.</p><p>It was still early, almost too early to be this lost. </p><p>Bokuto worked the night shift, on occasion he worked another shift in place of a coworker but it rarely happened. He was used to the darkness that this kind of morning brought. He got to see the sun sort itself through the leaves, deciding where to paint itself that morning. </p><p>It was still dark, he could only see a few of the stars. The stars were a bright white, they shone in a different way than his ring did. </p><p>He felt his pocket for the ring, to confirm it was still there. Feeling the somewhat circular object, he got an idea.</p><p>He scrambled to his feet, digging through his pocket for the ring. Locating the hole in the trees he was just observing, he weighed the new option.</p><p>If he could… throw the ring through the hole of the leaves, would it not hide itself? He could genuinely act surprised when they found it as well. After all, he did love the ring and didn’t want to legitimately lose it.</p><p>Giving a light toss of the ring in and out of his palm to test the weight, he grew comfortable with his ability to throw it. </p><p>Wrenching his torso back, his throwing arm along with it, he mimicked throwing it, attempting to gauge where he would aim. </p><p>Deciding where to project it, he whipped his arm, sending the ring flying just where he wanted it to. He watched it arch into the sky and over the trees. </p><p>It was up to fate where the ring would land now.</p><p>He walked in the opposite direction of the ring, continuing to be lost.</p><p>-</p><p>The light of the day finally came through, but Bokuto was still lost. </p><p>By now, he had hoped to find his post again but he was laughably unsuccessful.</p><p>Sweaty and tired, he plopped himself onto the ground, leaning his back against a tree.</p><p>He didn’t know what time was appropriate to call for Akaashi. </p><p>They hadn’t discussed time or for how long they would be searching. The previous day, Akaashi had found him as he was going back after all. </p><p>Bokuto would be off by noon, that left a lot more time for them to get to know each other. He blushed at the thought. </p><p>Maybe halfway through, Akaashi would invite him to some tea and they would touch hands when they both reached for the pot. Akaashi was probably a good host and would demand that Bokuto let them pour him tea. </p><p>Bokuto grew embarrassed at his mundane fantasizing.  </p><p>He jumped to his feet in an attempt to recover from his self imposed embarrassment.</p><p>Would now be a good time to call? What if Akaashi didn’t find him after all? How would he get home then? </p><p>He cleared his mind, he couldn’t begin to panic. He would have to trust Akaashi’s word.</p><p>Clearing his throat, he tentatively brought his hands to cup his mouth, hoping his voice would reach far enough for them to hear.</p><p>“Well… here goes nothing,” he muttered to himself as he closed his eyes, bracing himself.</p><p>Now was as good a time as any, he figured. </p><p>Taking in a deep breath, he called out deep from his lungs, “Aka-!”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Bokuto’s hands stilled, as did the rest of him. Had he imagined Akaashi saying ‘yes’ out of hope? Their soft, monotonous voice still rang through his ear though.</p><p>“Here, Bokuto-san.” </p><p>Bokuto whipped his head to the side, following the supposed voice. Akaashi was standing to the side of him, hands clasped behind their back. Their eyes fell on his in expectation.</p><p>“U-Uh- Akaashi!” He said stepping back, stumbling over nothing but his own surprise.</p><p>“You scared me, well not scared, more surprised. You’re not scary at all, don’t worry, it was just me saying that-”</p><p>“Bokuto-san,” the corner of their lips quirked, teasing him for his rambling.</p><p>“Akaashi…” he whined, “don’t sneak up on me like that..!”</p><p>“I apologize,” but the teasing glint in their eyes said differently.</p><p>Silence fell upon them. The only noise was the small winds of the day. It was quite cold this early into the morning. He looked up to the sky, it wasn’t as bright as it was a few hours ago. Clouds were pooling together, it would rain soon. He hoped it wasn’t too soon.</p><p>“Did you want to start searching?” Akaashi asked.</p><p>“Yeah! Thanks again, Akaashi,” he grinned at them.</p><p>He wasn’t sure if he was feeding himself hopeful lies but he was sure that Akaashi’s cheeks grew a bit pink before they looked away.</p><p>“It’s no issue, Bokuto-san,” they glanced at him, a small smile showing its way.</p><p>His cheeks warmed up, heart beating a little faster as they walked through the forest.</p><p>-</p><p>Bokuto sat in front of the stream, making faces into the water. There were many rocks that shuffled his features around. He moved inch by inch along the stream, curious at how differently the stream would break up his face.</p><p>He stuck his hands into the water, watching it move around them without a thought. </p><p>They landed at the stream again after a few hours of searching. Akaashi had noticed Bokuto’s not so subtle heavy breathing and his, a little louder than necessary, complaints about his legs being tired. They offered for them both to go back to the stream, suggesting that they too needed a break but Bokuto knew they were saying it to just be nice. Akaashi never seemed to get tired, no matter uphill or downhill.</p><p>Bokuto stopped looking into the stream to peer at Akaashi from his side view.</p><p>Akaashi was beside the stream, feet away from Bokuto, leaning on a tree with their eyes delicately closed. Their eyelids looked paper thin and Bokuto got the strangest urge to swipe his thumb across them. </p><p>He bet they were soft. </p><p>He wondered what Akaashi would think if he were to give into the impulse. He wondered what Akaashi thought of him generally.</p><p>Bokuto looked back to the stream, he ran his hands through the stream once again, sudden questions for Akaashi running rampant through his head. </p><p>He extended his arm out, splayed fingers in front of him. No cuts, no scars from the previous day. He still wasn’t sure how it could be possible.</p><p>He waddled over to Akaashi, poking him in the cheek until their eyes fluttered open, catching on Bokuto’s.</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>Bokuto sat next to them, arms brushing as he settled in. He wanted to ask about the hand, he couldn’t help but feel Akaashi would know. </p><p>“What is it, Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asked in a whisper.</p><p>“Well…” He stopped himself. He realized it could possibly sound stupid. After all, cuts didn’t heal within just a few hours. It was ridiculous, he was being ridiculous. “Well, okay- you have to promise you won’t laugh,” he said, holding up his pinky for them to hook their own around it.</p><p>Their eyes zeroed in on the finger, confusion passing their eyes before they nodded, promising not to laugh via pinky.</p><p>“Well, yesterday… I fell down and scraped and cut my hand, right? But when we said goodbye, there were no cuts! Nothing that even said I fell in the first place, isn’t that kinda weird?”</p><p>Akaashi hummed, “yes, that’s very odd. Do you have a clue as to why?”</p><p>He looked down at his hands, opening and closing them to test their elasticity. “Maybe I have super strong healing powers…” he muttered, inspecting his hands.</p><p>Akaashi broke out into a fit of laughter, their laugh was quiet but infectious. He couldn’t help but chuckle along, although he was still confused.</p><p>“It’s very likely you do.” A subtle, satisfied smile solidified itself on Akaashi’s face as they rested back against the tree. “Very likely.”</p><p>-</p><p>Their search wound down after leaving the stream. Bokuto became tired and though he cared for the ring dearly, he felt he couldn’t care less about it as their search trudged on. He wanted to lie on the grass and sleep until the morning sun defiantly woke him up.</p><p>The sky had become drab hours into their search, it was unmoving in exception to the darkening clouds that hung over them in threat. Their search had exercised his body and distracted him enough to not feel the creeping cold he soon felt as Akaashi suggested they slow down.</p><p>Akaashi seemed to always be taking in Bokuto’s physical and mental state in account when they searched together. He would be offended at the coddling if the thought didn't make his heart beat just a bit faster. </p><p>The way they told Bokuto to watch out for tree branches or, “I doubt the ring would be on the branch that’s hanging off a ravine, Bokuto-san.” It all felt very caring and Bokuto basked in it. </p><p>Akaashi walked beside Bokuto, glancing around every so often for the ring. Bokuto stopped looking at the ground a while ago, focusing on Akaashi’s subtle expressions. He wanted to memorize them.</p><p>“Hey, Akaashi-” he began but was cut short by a drop of something wet landing on his forehead. </p><p>“Yes?” Akaashi hummed, head turning to face him.</p><p>“I-” He started again but was once again cut off by another drop. </p><p>Bokuto stopped walking and before Akaashi could ask him why, drops of rain started to trickle down onto them. The rain’s speed started picking up, soon thundering down into the ground as the two scrambled to gain cover.</p><p>“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi grasped Bokuto’s wrist, freezing his panicked state. “Follow me.”</p><p>Akaashi walked in sure steps, Bokuto’s wrist in tow along with the rest of him, in a direction Bokuto didn’t have a clear enough mind to know where they were headed.</p><p>“H-Hey uh, where are we going?”</p><p>Akaashi didn’t answer him, Bokuto just hoped it was somewhere with shelter.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i hope you enjoyed~! :'&gt;</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. fade into</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hope you enjoy! i really enjoyed writing this chapter and if you would like! i'd suggest listening to 'fade into you' by mazzy star on loop while reading it KJDFH i listened to it while writing/editing and i feel it captures the vibe of the chapter. i never listen to other authors that say the same so do as you want rip skdjfs</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Red and oranges caressed Akaashi’s face, the colors making their way into every crevice they could reach. Their eyes a playful mixture of blue and orange as they stared into the fire before them.</p><p>Akaashi had led them to a nestled cave inside of a short hill, the walk uphill had grown more dangerous with each step they had taken.</p><p>Bokuto sat quietly, curled up and consumed by his growing anxiety.</p><p>The sound of rain pouring into the forest was the only other noise beside the crackling fire Bokuto had started.</p><p>He wasn’t sure where he was, how he would get home, or what he would eat in the meantime. His ring was lost and would most likely stray further because of the heavy rain. He knew the ring was meant to be lost but he never actually wanted to lose it. In hindsight, he probably should have hidden it somewhere he could trace instead of tossing it into the trees.</p><p>“Bokuto-san?” Akaashi’s head was tilted, a question lingering on their face.</p><p>He looked through the fire, Akaashi was bathing in the orange, “yeah?”</p><p>“Are you hungry?” They asked.</p><p>Bokuto warily nodded. He hoped they would say they had something to eat and weren’t teasing Bokuto to then respond with, ‘me too,’ and he would be left with a grumbling stomach. </p><p>“I have some leftover meat.”</p><p>Bokuto’s chewing lip morphed into a grin and bright eyes.</p><p>“That sounds great, Akaashi, thanks!”</p><p>Akaashi nodded as they stood, walking further into the cave. Bokuto watched them slowly fade away until they were clear out of view. Drops of water that fell from the cave’s ceiling echoed, bouncing off the walls and traveling further into the cave; he wondered how far in the cave went.</p><p>Bokuto’s eyes dropped into the fire, he also wondered how hot his hand would feel if he were to stick just one finger in. He wouldn’t do it but he’d never tested it before…</p><p>Truthfully, he was cold, near freezing. His clothes were drying so he was left in his undergarments, just shorts and a light t-shirt which were uncomfortably damp still. He wondered how Akaashi wasn’t cold. Their clothes were so light and transparent, well most of it was, they still had on other clothes to cover things up but Bokuto was baffled nonetheless.</p><p>Akaashi walked back out with meat piled in their palms and a stick wedged in their armpit.</p><p>They handed the stick to Bokuto, crouching beside him. Bokuto held it confidently like he would his sword that he now realized he left at the wall, oops. Akaashi began carefully sticking the meat onto it.</p><p>Their eyes were so trained on the stick, he could giggle at such an unnecessary energy put into something so mundane but his cheeks growing a rosy pink stopped him. Akaashi looked surprisingly pretty with furrowed brows and squinted eyes.</p><p>His eyes trailed down to the stick to avoid staring at them.</p><p>He pouted at the sight of such little meat. It looked to be enough for Bokuto but Akaashi was going to eat weren’t they?</p><p>Attempting to ignore his still faint blush, he cleared his throat.</p><p>“Are you gonna have any, Akaashi?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>Bokuto frowned, “I haven’t seen you eat a whole lot yet. You’ll grow too thin,” he said, quickly cursing himself the moment it left his mouth. He was a replica of Kono-san.</p><p>Akaashi laughed, the faintest smirk resting on their lips. “Maybe. Maybe not.” Bokuto’s lips turned further downward.</p><p>With a resigned smile, a small sigh slipped past their lips. “Alright, I will have a few. If it will prevent you from worrying.”</p><p>With Akaashi placing the final cut of meat onto the stick, Bokuto placed the stick right into the fire. Akaashi fretted over the meat, urging Bokuto to place the stick further away, “Bokuto-san, it’s in the fire, it’s too close, you’ll burn it, please place it further away.”</p><p>But he was impatient and starved. He declared this with, “Nah, I got this Akaashi, just wait!”</p><p>He would say the meat was finished confidently and happily in a few short minutes. He could guess Akaashi’s tale would perhaps be recorded differently from the way they were fidgeting the entire time, looking itched to swipe the stick away but he clutched the stick tight to ensure it wasn’t.</p><p>They ate the slightly charred meat off the very much burnt, nearly fallen apart, stick, but Bokuto enjoyed it and by the looks of it, Akaashi was able to choke it down. Which he defiantly considered a win.</p><p>Full bellies and a raging fire, Bokuto rested back against the cool rock of the cave. His eyes shut on their own accord, enjoying the sound of the rain once it wasn’t attacking him.</p><p>Ignoring the way his shirt was uncomfortably riding up, how he couldn’t be bothered to fix it, and how the shirt was unmistakably still damp. He decided he would rather focus on the sounds of Akaashi shuffling around.</p><p>Bokuto opened one curious eye to sneak a look at what exactly Akaashi was doing.</p><p>They were changing their sitting position every which way, seeming to never find a comfortable spot.</p><p>They looked anxious. Maybe as anxious as Bokuto was before their dinner distracted him.</p><p>Turning on his side to face them, Bokuto cleared his throat.</p><p>“Hey, Akaashi?”</p><p>Akaashi stopped shifting, looking down at Bokuto with a tilted expression.</p><p>“Yes?"</p><p>“Do you have any family?” Bokuto asked.</p><p>He knew it was a random question but Akaashi looked like they could use the distraction.</p><p>Eyes softening, shoulders dropping, they picked up a pebble and rolled it around in the palm of their hand. “In a way.”</p><p>“What does that mean?”</p><p>“Well,” Akaashi looked away briefly, “I don’t have family in the sense that you might.”</p><p>Bokuto nodded, though he didn’t understand.</p><p>“How about you? Do you have a family, Bokuto-san?”</p><p>“Yeah,” a warm smile grew on his face in memory. “I don’t see them much, I go home for special holidays. But Kono-san makes up for it.”</p><p>“Kono-san?” They asked.</p><p>“Yeah! She’s my neighbor and we hang out a lot. She’s… lonely.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Well, Kono-san’s husband passed away a few years ago. Before I moved into the city, you see! I moved into the city just after and I was lonely too. But now we have dinner together once a week, sometimes more, and it’s really nice!” He exclaimed.</p><p>Akaashi slowly nodded their head in understanding. Their expression along with their voice were soft as they said,</p><p>“She’s your family too.”</p><p>Bokuto nodded.</p><p>“That’s nice,” their lips twitched into a smile, their cheeks subtly shifting. Bokuto couldn't help but feel the need to mimic them.</p><p>If Bokuto weren't focusing on distracting Akaashi, he would have bursted. Seeing their smile, he narrowly resisted the urge to clamp his hands over their cheeks and just hold their face, he wondered if they were as soft as he thought.</p><p>Instead, they both settled into a quiet, comfortable silence. Akaashi still looked on edge but they stopped fidgeting so Bokuto decided to not press on with another distraction.</p><p>Bokuto looked around the cave to distract himself instead, and well… there wasn’t much to look at besides the jagged ceiling, the fire, and Akaashi. And while he had no qualms about staring at Akaashi, it was actually one of his favorite things to do, believe it or not. He would probably be spending the night in the cave with Akaashi though and he didn’t want to ruin the nice atmosphere by being caught staring.</p><p>As he thought about it, he’d never spent a night outside of a place he called home before, definitely never in a forest. Now that they were safe, he wanted to see what it looked like at night.</p><p>Bokuto stood up, dusting off his backside. As quietly as possible, as to not disturb Akaashi. He walked to the edge of the cave’s entrance, tucking in his legs so the rain wouldn’t splash onto him.</p><p>He looked to the night sky. It hadn’t stopped raining for several hours now and it didn’t look like it would let up anytime soon. He sighed, he hoped Kono-san wasn’t worrying.</p><p>Sometimes Kono-san would come over for a quick doorway chat, not having the time to always meet during the week but wanting to talk. He enjoyed their chats but he hoped that this afternoon she hadn’t come over in search of his company.</p><p>Bokuto looked behind him at the current company he was in. Akaashi was staring into the fire, unmoving. They were hunched over, head resting in the crook between their knees. Their eyebrows would furrow, forehead growing lines of distress. Every so often, the lines would fade away along with the eyebrows hiking back up in a relaxed form.</p><p>When their eyebrows came together, creating a line between them where their skin folded, Bokuto felt the urge to run his thumb along it, smoothing it down, erasing any trace of worry they might have had.</p><p>Bokuto frustratingly turned away, looking at the trees that trailed up the slope of the hill that lead to the cave. One of the trees held a nest of two birds huddling together.</p><p>A disruption in silence echoed it’s way from the back of the cave to Bokuto's ears. Without looking, Bokuto recognized the sound of Akaashi’s perpetually shoe-less feet shuffling over to him, sitting to the left of him.</p><p>Bokuto sneaked a glance at them. They sat there, knee propped up as they mindlessly played with the shifting pebbles. Their expression was contemplative, eyebrows unchanging from their downward angle. Their eyes held the moon.</p><p>“Um… Bokuto-san.” Their voice was small, barely audible.</p><p>“Yeah,” he said, a notch above whispering.</p><p>“I… I have something I’d like to share with you.” Akaashi sounded incredibly nervous, if they weren’t so quiet, he imagined their voice would have wavered.</p><p>Something? What could something be?</p><p>“Alright?” He answered.</p><p>“Well, um, you see,” their eyes flicked to his. “You must trust me when I say I’m not lying to you about this.”</p><p>“Sure, Akaashi.” He nodded in promise, though he was reeling from the anticipation.</p><p>Akaashi shifts around to face Bokuto, their eyes steadied confidently on his, a determination in them.</p><p>Their chest puffed up as they breathed in a deep pool of air, letting it trail out a moment after.</p><p>“Today, you brought up how the cuts and scrapes on your hands healed within a short amount of time. You were surprised earlier today by my prompt arrival when you called out the first half of my name,” they stopped, their silence asking Bokuto if they assumed right, he presumed.</p><p>He nodded. They scared him half to death with that arrival, there was no saving his pride now.</p><p>“It is a tale in your culture,” Akaashi continued, “though you only believe it to be a tale. There’s a tale of spirits that roam the forests, caring for the trees, animals, and everything that lives within it. They are said to be only seen in glimpses, unknowable because they will never let a human close."</p><p>Akaashi looked at him with a nervous glint in their eyes, Bokuto was supposed to say something but… Bokuto didn’t know what to think. Were they saying what he thought they were saying? Was Bokuto really to believe that Akaashi was a forest spirit? It was just a tale, as they said.</p><p>“You’re, uh, you’re saying that you’re…?”</p><p>“I’m a forest spirit,” Akaashi nodded, their eyes flickered around his face.</p><p>Bokuto slowly nodded. He couldn’t make sense of it though. Akaashi looked human.</p><p>Through legend, forest spirits were told to be multicolored, that they would blend in with their forest.</p><p>“Um, what do you think of it, Bokuto-san?” Akaashi questioned.</p><p>Bokuto could laugh at how nervous they looked, he never thought Akaashi was capable of looking so nervous. They could but the tension in their voice made his lips flatten in restraint.</p><p>“Um, I guess I don’t know. What does being a forest spirit mean?”</p><p>“Well I- '' Akaashi began but their face froze. They pouted before muttering, “it would be easier to show you.”</p><p>Akaashi shuffled back, leaving a space between them.</p><p>Akaashi applied their hand to the ground, it rested there for a second.</p><p>Nothing was happening.</p><p>Bokuto stared at their hand. Was something supposed to happen? Was he too oblivious to understand what was happening?</p><p>He opened his mouth to speak but suddenly there was movement where Akaashi laid their hand.</p><p>Under and around their fingers, grass sprouted out of the rock hard ground. A small flower grew between their index and thumb.</p><p>It spread to where Bokuto sat, it circled around him and presented a delicate a white flower in front of him.</p><p>Lifting their hand, they shook off the dirt from the ground and before he knew it, moss was steadily growing on the palm of their hand. It trailed over the pads of their fingers, never growing past their wrist.</p><p>Bokuto tentatively reached out to touch the moss in amazement. Akaashi nodded, giving him permission.</p><p>It was pillowy from being so fresh; it was softer than he thought it’d be.</p><p>As he looked at and felt the moss, he felt Akaashi staring at him. He glanced up and they looked equally excited as he was… in their own way.</p><p>“Wow, Akaashi!” He bursted, not being able to hold it in anymore. “How can you do that? What else can you do?!”</p><p>Akaashi chuckled, “A lot more. Would you like to see?”</p><p>“Yes!”</p><p>Akaashi cupped their hands, creating a bowl out of them. Bokuto reached out and tugged their hands lower so he could see.</p><p>Peering into the bowl, Bokuto impatiently waited for something to happen.</p><p>Water appeared, not a lot at first, but it started to rise in the bowl of their hands. To their forest spirit magic he assumed, it didn’t slip through the natural cracks of Akaashi’s fingers. Instead it rose and rose until it spilled over, onto Bokuto’s bare legs.</p><p>“Akaashi!” He exclaimed, whining, “it’s raining, I just got dry!”</p><p>“Ah, right... humans mind being wet,” Akaashi teased.</p><p>Bokuto stuck out his tongue, “we can’t all be forest spirits!”</p><p>Akaashi laughed, a laugh from the chest.</p><p>Bokuto’s cheeks warmed uncontrollably at the sound.</p><p>“Um… about that Bokuto-san. We technically aren’t allowed to provide intel about our existence to humans.”</p><p>“Oh… then why are you telling me?”</p><p>“I’m not close with the nearby forest spirits. Yes there are others.” Akaashi said, anticipating that Bokuto would ask. Bokuto scoffed at the assumption but he was going to ask so he was left grumbling. “But they’re far,” Akaashi continued.</p><p>“And, well, to be quite honest, I haven’t talked to anyone in a while. And though it’s only been two days, you’ve shown to be trustworthy in my eyes. I trust that you won’t tell anyone about me?” Bokuto shook his head, promising to not tell anyone. 

</p><p>Akaashi smiled and ducked their head. “As I thought. I’ve… I’ve been enjoying your company, Bokuto-san. I-I’m sorry we haven’t been able to find your ring. And… thank you for agreeing to keep my existence a secret.”</p><p>He was rendered speechless, he wanted to say something back but he could only nod with an undecided grin. Akaashi enjoyed his company… Akaashi, the forest spirit, enjoyed his, Bokuto’s, company. He felt like he could pass out at any moment.</p><p>“It must be a lot to hear,” they said, once again reading the state he was in. 
“As long as you hold your promise, I’ll answer any questions you might have.”</p><p>“Right, so! So! Um… how were you born? How do you become a forest spirit? Could I become one?!”</p><p>Akaashi chuckled, “No, sadly you can’t be one Bokuto-san.” Bokuto pouted, shoulders falling. “Forest spirits start as tree saplings, then they’re nurtured by nature. As our tree grows older, we take on physical forms that resemble humans. From there, we live as long as our tree does.”</p><p>“Hm…” he hummed. “How do you make sure your tree doesn’t die?”</p><p>“Well, from ‘birth,’ nature and it’s animals make sure our trees don’t die by not trampling the sapling, in hopes that we will take care of their forest. When we grow beyond the first ring of our tree, we grow a physical form and then have to prove to the animals that we’ll tend the forest. Some forest spirits reject their existence, they don’t tend their forests well, they let it die out.” Akaashi winced, eyebrows knitting together. “It’s a mistake to do that, it’s unfair to the forest and the beings within it. The animals know this well. Once they conclude that the forest spirit won’t hold up their end of the deal, they stomp out the spirit’s tree and await the next.”</p><p>“The animals like you… you did a good job earning their trust, Akaashi.” He said, remembering the countless times he had seen an animal walk up to them for a petting, which Akaashi delivered seemingly happily.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“How about how you popped up when I called you? How did you do that?”</p><p>Akaashi hummed, “I’m in tune with every disturbance in the forest. Trees, grass, ants, all alert me when something or someone unusual enters their space.”</p><p>“And you can just… appear? Wherever you want to?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“That’s so cool! I wish I could do that…” Bokuto whined.</p><p>He closed his eyes, attempting to think of other questions he might have. He fidgeted with his hands as he thought.</p><p>Wait… his hands.</p><p>The wounds.</p><p>“Akaashi! What about the healed cuts? The scrapes? Did you do that?!”</p><p>“After you fell down that ravine,” Akaashi stopped, visually trying to fight back a smirk, Bokuto glared at them. “I took you to a river. You had blood, cuts, and bruises everywhere. I didn’t enjoy seeing it. I’m able to heal the unjust wounds of the forest with a simple touch. I didn’t know if it would work on you but I wanted to help you. I put my hands into the river, posing as if I was washing my hands or playing with the water. But really, with hope, I spread my healing abilities to the entire river. It appears I was successful, I’m glad.”</p><p>“Woah... Can I heal wounds now?” He said, pressing his hands on Akaashi’s upper arm to test his abilities without giving it his action a second thought. He whipped it back to his side as he realized his impulsivity and how dangerous his heart was beating from such a simple touch.</p><p>Akaashi shook their head, telling him that no, he couldn’t heal wounds now.</p><p>“If we were to go back, would the river still be able to heal?” He asked.</p><p>“No. Once I removed my hands from the river, it stopped the ability.”</p><p>Bokuto nodded.</p><p>Truthfully, he was still bewildered.</p><p>He trusted everything Akaashi said. He’d seen it, how could he not.</p><p>The rain still fell, he had to sleep in a cave. He could laugh at the thought of that oddly enough not being the most far fetched thing about his situation.</p><p>“If you’re a tree,” Bokuto interrupted himself, laughing. Akaashi hummed in amusement. “You said you had a home, if you’re a tree, where do you sleep?”</p><p>“This cave.”</p><p>“This is your home?”</p><p>“Yes, is that odd?”</p><p>“Well… it’s not very homey. You could do with a sleeping mat or something,” Bokuto mumbled.</p><p>“I don’t need all the things humans do.”</p><p>“Right… when you didn’t want to eat tonight, was that ‘cause of…” he threw up his arms, gesturing around them.</p><p>“Yes,” Akaashi hummed, “I can eat, however, I don’t get hungry. All the nutrients I need are the same of a tree.”</p><p>All his questions were answered, at least the ones he could ask without revealing he spied on Akaashi. It made sense why Akaashi was so dry when they finally settled into the cave or Akaashi's home, he now supposed.</p><p>“The fire is dimming, Bokuto-san. Perhaps you should sleep.”</p><p>Bokuto turned, the fire was growing quite small. But it wasn’t small enough that he couldn’t salvage the fire and continue their talk. He wanted to. But it had been a long day and Akaashi looked like they needed time to think alone.</p><p>Bokuto nodded, getting up.</p><p>“Do you sleep?”</p><p>“Maybe, maybe not,” Akaashi similarly teased.</p><p>Bokuto grinned and turned back to where he had been drying his clothes. Picking up his long sleeve, he pulled it on and walked back to Akaashi.</p><p>Though the floor of the cave was fairly flat, it was still rock. It was barely comfortable after a short while, he couldn’t imagine lying the side of his face on it.</p><p>He got an idea. He didn’t know if he could ask without blushing his way into a mess.</p><p>“Hey, um, Akaashi?”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Do you think I could use your lap as a pillow? T-The ground is rough.”</p><p>Akaashi’s eyes widened, Bokuto’s mind instantly scrambled to try and come up with an apology.</p><p>“Sure, uh- Yes, you can.”</p><p>Bokuto stilled. He was aware he was the one who asked, he shouldn’t have been shocked to receive an agreeing answer but he was shocked all the same.</p><p>Bokuto’s eyes trained on Akaashi’s form as they moved to rest against the cave’s wall to get comfortable.</p><p>“Well?” Akaashi whispered when he didn’t make a move. Their voice sounded louder, much louder, than it actually was.</p><p>Bokuto shuffled in a crouch of all forms on his way to Akaashi. He slowly lowered himself onto Akaashi’s thigh. Their transparent clothes covered their legs but for all Bokuto was concerned, it could have been their bare leg. The matching heat that met Bokuto’s cheek made him blush.</p><p>He was afraid Akaashi could feel the heat of his cheek but Akaashi was so warm he wasn’t sure they could. He wasn’t sure how that could make sense but at this point he would convince himself of anything.</p><p>Finally collecting his mind, he mumbled, “thanks.” He hoped Akaashi heard it so he wouldn’t have to repeat it and run the risk of his voice breaking.</p><p>They hummed, not volunteering any words to assure Bokuto that they weren’t able to sense his flustered state.</p><p>They remained quiet, he was drifting off to the sound of Akaashi’s breathing and the rain just a few feet away when he heard Akaashi mutter something.</p><p>“Hm?” He hummed quietly, in case Akaashi hadn’t said anything to begin with. He was nervous Akaashi would change their mind.</p><p>“Um.. I-” Bokuto shifted their head to face them, they looked troubled as they sighed, a light smile tugging at their lips. “It was nothing. Goodnight, Bokuto-san."</p><p>He sighed in relief but also in saddened curiosity. He wasn’t sure Akaashi was being truthful. Akaashi looked like they had been toying with something troubling all night and Bokuto was empathetically curious. Perhaps their words tonight had a tie with their distress, he wasn’t able to tell.</p><p>He wasn’t sure what about him made them change their mind on telling him. 
They trusted him didn’t he? They told him he’s a forest spirit for crying out loud. So whatever they were holding back must be something beyond him right now.</p><p>But for now, it didn’t seem like it was his place to intervene. He would respect that. He hoped that they would become closer soon.</p><p>“Goodnight, Akaashi."</p><p>The last thing he remembered as he drifted off was the feeling of light fingers carding their way through his hair.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>&gt;:&gt; mwah</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. endlessly</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bokuto didn’t keep silence often but times when he noticed Akaashi was looking especially thoughtful, Bokuto often kept his mouth closed to watch the spirit. Their lip tugging at the thought tumbling around in their mind. Their eyes squinting, barely visible crows feet appearing beside their eyes. Their hands would twitch, fiddle around with their shirt, then twitch again, in that order, before they brought up a question for Bokuto.</p><p>He was more than aware of a lot of Akaashi’s signs but he wondered if he, himself, had any. He wondered if Akaashi caught onto any. He wondered if they wanted to understand him as he did Akaashi.</p><p>He wondered about it in moments when it felt like only mind reading could explain the way their conversations flowed as the stream did. That the only other way than mind reading to the easiness of their company was that they understood Bokuto.</p><p>When they would sit close to the stream, feet stopping just at the edge of the water, their toes flexing around the blades of grass.</p><p>He wondered what the difference between him and Akaashi was, how different they could be in a grand total.</p><p>As long as Bokuto had been aware of Akaashi, they seemed to be fully human at observation. They did odd things occasionally that were just a step out of the social norm but after the shock left, he started to find the odd habits endearing.</p><p>
  <i>“Akaashi?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Yes?” Akaashi stood from where they were previously crouched.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What are you doing?” He asked, voice light.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Akaashi looked at him, confusion apparent in their eyes.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Akaashi had plucked a mushroom which wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary but they proceeded to stick the mushroom onto their forearm, the mushroom growing into their arm as if there weren’t a difference between the soil of the earth and their skin.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m taking a mushroom, another part of the forest needs it.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Bokuto wondered if they saw the world as he did.</i>
</p><p>Akaashi walked through the forest with glazed eyes. He often wondered if the calls from the forest’s inhabitants were ever overwhelming. And if they were, what they did to calm themselves down.</p><p>He wondered if they shared human emotions in that way at all. In a selfish way, he hoped they did.</p><p>He hoped they were able to feel joy. He figured they must, by the few wonderful moments he’d seen their lips crack upwards into a smile. Sometimes that smile appeared at his own expense, a snicker would sound from the spirit when he tripped over something or when he said something particularly amusing. He would put on the act of being mad with a dramatic pout but truthfully, he was just glad to make the spirit laugh.</p><p>He knew this could be far-fetched, seeing as they are still a forest spirit and all. But... he hoped they were able to feel love.</p><p>One time they had passed Akaashi’s tree, the moss was growing along the sides of the tree. Which Akaashi later explained meant that the forest was accepting them. After that, he eagerly kept an eye out for how the moss grew, watching Akaashi’s pleased smile that was only meant for themselves. That smile, that proved to him that they were capable of love.</p><p>But in another way, in an indulgently selfish way he would admit, Bokuto hoped there was room in Akaashi’s heart for him.</p><p>Regardless, Bokuto knew for himself that he couldn’t, wouldn’t, say he was in love with the spirit. He knew not to throw such terms around, lest they not live up to their meaning. But he believed in loving the mere presence of something or someone was more than enough; being in love could come after.</p><p>-</p><p>“The days are getting hotter, Akaashi, do you think the ring’s all crusted up in a puddle by now?” Bokuto said somewhat jokingly though the previous night, he thought of the idea and brought himself into a small panic at the prospect.</p><p>“It’s not unlikely that that would have happened,” Akaashi nodded, causing Bokuto to frown, “but... I have hope.”</p><p>“That’s good. I wasn’t expecting the ring to have gotten lost for so long, but I’m not bad company, am I, Akaashi?! I’m a great hunting buddy, huh?” He brazenly laughed but it died out as he watched Akaashi stiffen into a guilt-ridden expression.</p><p>He paused, unsure what to do. Did he say something wrong?</p><p>Before he could really spiral, Akaashi cleared their throat, sporting averting eyes.</p><p>“Again, I’m sorry we haven’t found the ring yet. I know I’ve already apologized days ago but your higher authorities must be furious with you and it’s my fault that I can’t track it and-”</p><p>“Hey, hey,” Bokuto waddled, still squatting, over to Akaashi where they were resting against their usual tree by the river. “It’s okay. My boss understands,” a twinge snags on his heart. The guilt for stacking upon the lies he’d already told slowly ate away at his resolve to not tell them the truth.</p><p>“But-”</p><p>“Nope!” He declared, springing up and holding out a hand to Akaashi. “If you’re really so worried, how about we continue searching?” He suggested, feeling guilty himself.</p><p>Akaashi stared up at him with their, normally thin but wide in the moment, deep blue eyes.</p><p>Akaashi’s face slowly melted, relaxing into an easy smile as they gripped his hand. </p><p>Bokuto yanked the spirit up, feet leaving the ground for a moment, causing them to nearly fall. Akaashi was not amused, they teleported out of Bokuto’s grasp next to him with their feet firmly planted on the grass.</p><p>The side-glare he received was worth it though. His hand and mind both celebrating the rare touch.</p><p>-</p><p>“So let’s say you were to leave the forest, what would happen?”</p><p>“The forest would slowly decay if I were to not take care of it. My tree would surely be knocked down by the forest creatures once they noticed I was failing them… were you not paying attention when I told you.”</p><p>“No! I mean yes, I was. Just… well, I was kinda wondering, hoping if I’m being honest-”</p><p>“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said, cutting off his rambling with a small smile, clearly amused.</p><p>“Right, right. There’s a festival tonight, I was hoping you could experience the town! With me!” Bokuto exclaimed.</p><p>He had daydreamed about it the previous night. They would go to the different booths, Bokuto would buy any food that Akaashi even minutely expressed interest in. Bokuto would dress in traditional wear and impress Akaashi with how manly he looked.</p><p>“I…” Akaashi’s mouth opened and closed indecisively. “I’m not sure I can do that, Bokuto-san, I’m sorry.” Akaashi’s eyes trailed from Bokuto’s eyes down into their lap, a frown tugging at their lips.</p><p>“That’s okay!” He smiled, attempting to hide his disappointment. “It would’ve been fun to go with you but can’t have it all huh?”</p><p>Akaashi softly hummed. “If I may ask…” they left it hanging, asking Bokuto for permission. Bokuto nodded. “What were you hoping for us to do?”</p><p>“Well there’s usually a lot of games, y'know like games to win prizes or even sometimes a fish!” Akaashi pulled a face at the fish comment, clearly not amused by the way the fish was being treated, Bokuto laughed boisterously. “I know, I know. But, there’s also the food from booths, that’s my favorite part. I wanted you to try more food that wasn’t Kono-san’s. It’s good but street food is different, y’know!”</p><p>“I don’t, obviously,” Bokuto giggled at their snarkiness, “however… I’m disappointed that I’ll be missing the opportunity to try the food… along with the chance to witness and experience, in your words, your town with you.”</p><p>The next day, Bokuto called out to Akaashi with a bag wrapped around his chest to rest on his back.</p><p>In a second, Akaashi appeared next to Bokuto, eyeing the unusual bag he held.</p><p>“Good morning, Akaashi!”</p><p>“Good morning Bokuto-san. What is that?” They bluntly pointed to the oddly shaped bag on his back.</p><p>He chuckled, “straight to it today. You’re ever observant as usual-!”</p><p>“Indeed,” they answered, cutting off Bokuto. “Now, what is it?”</p><p>“Rude,” he grumbled under his breath. “It’s a surprise! Take us to the river and you’ll see.”</p><p>He grinned at Akaashi’s analyzing eyes, they sighed and started walking to the river in a stride.</p><p>Akaashi could be so amusing, Bokuto thought for the umpteenth time since they met. He couldn’t believe he had thought they were oddly inexpressive but he had quickly realized that they were incredibly expressive and dramatic in their own right.</p><p>Akaashi led them to the river, quickly settling into the grass, Bokuto following suit.</p><p>He quickly untangled the strips of cloth around his chest, a little nervous that if he were to make Akaashi wait one more second, they would send a deer or something after him. They had never done anything like that before but he figured it wasn’t completely out of reason.</p><p>“Ta-da!”</p><p>The previously wrapped coarse cotton bag was laid flat open, food piled in the middle.</p><p>“What… What is it?” They said, confusion more than apparent.</p><p>“Akaashi! It’s food from the booths last night! I went to the festival, it’s too bad you didn’t get to see my traditional outfit!” He said, pouting.</p><p>“But I made sure to buy some foods that wouldn’t just be gross the next day, like fried food, which was the majority so it was hard to find these. But I made it out with a good amount, so! That’s all to say, I hope you like my pick!”</p><p>Akaashi’s eyes flicked around the pile of food, the silence dragged on as they analyzed everything he brought.</p><p>Bokuto couldn’t tell if they were happy or not. He grew nervous that he had read Akaashi’s previous disappointment wrong, or that Akaashi didn’t like what he had brought. He couldn’t bring any fried food, some of his favorites last night were fried, he understood if they were disappointed.</p><p>“Thank you, Bokuto-san,” they mumbled, head still hanging. And, if he wasn’t seeing things through their hair hiding most of their face, their cheeks were pinkened.</p><p>He batted the thought away, it was probably the sun warming up their face as it often did.</p><p>-</p><p>One night they got caught up in searching or if Bokuto was being honest, talking. They got so into their conversation about a special story Bokuto’s village passed onto everyone. Bokuto added wild acting, which aided Akaashi’s amused smile to appear as he told the story; which may have caused his own face to warm up as his movements were brought to a halt but that was beside the point.</p><p>One night they got caught up, Akaashi smiling, Bokuto disrupting the tired animals as they tuck themselves to sleep (Akaashi told him that they complained about his loudness sometimes but Akaashi told him not to feel bad so he didn’t). But they were so distracted, neither of them realized how dark it had gotten. Bokuto whined to Akaashi,</p><p>“Akaashi it’s so dark, how am I gonna get home… I’m so hungry too,” he pouted, dramatically leaning his weight on the nearest tree with an extended arm to keep himself upright.</p><p>Akaashi hummed, though he could hear the amused chuckle buried in it though; i.e., a failed hum.</p><p>“Akaashi!”</p><p>“Sorry, sorry,” they laughed openly, Bokuto glared but eventually joined in, not willing to pass up the rare big-Akaashi-laugh. “I will walk you back, as always, Bokuto-san. But… we could go to my cave, I’m sure I have something to eat for you there.”</p><p>Bokuto’s smile slowly faded into a frozen neutral expression, mouth hanging open.</p><p>Bokuto hadn’t been to the cave since the day it rained. It had been a while since then and Bokuto didn’t think he’d ever get invited again, seeing as it was a moment of panic for Akaashi on Bokuto’s behalf (he still grumbled inwardly at Akaashi’s water resistance).</p><p>But now… now he was invited. He wasn’t sure what to think of it.</p><p>His mind also traveled back to the memory that’d remained unspoken between the spirit and himself. The memory of Bokuto resting on Akaashi’s leg. Bokuto’s scalding blush that had overtaken his cheeks, ears, and neck: all points that connected with Akaashi’s leg that night. He prayed that they hadn’t felt it. He wasn’t entirely sure how blushing worked when others felt it, he’d never had the chance to compare, but he could only hope it felt of nothing.</p><p>Oh and how could he ever forget. Long fingers ruffling through his hair.</p><p>Even days later, he wasn’t sure that he hadn’t imagined the whole ordeal. He had woken up with his head resting on his fully dried pants for a pillow. Instead of the warm leg he had last been lying on. Bokuto had panicked, scared that Akaashi had gotten themself killed, even if it didn’t necessarily make sense.</p><p>But Akaashi had materialized in the cave a moment later, Bokuto’s tensed shoulders dropping in relief.</p><p>Blinking back to the present, his eyes cleared back to the spirit reaching up to the tips of their hair, twisting the ends; another nervous habit.</p><p>“I-, I-, yeah!” He spluttered, scrambling for a response. “Going to your cave sounds good,” he declared in finality, perhaps a little too loudly.</p><p>“O-Okay.” They nodded, sharply turning their body, assumedly, in the direction of the cave.</p><p>Bokuto stood still, they had stuttered as well, he noted.</p><p>He watched them walk a few steps until they probably noticed he was still standing where they had left him.</p><p>“Are you coming?” Akaashi asked, voice barely making it to his ears.</p><p>“Yeah!” He stopped just standing there, running to Akaashi’s side.</p><p>The two walked in silence, Bokuto tried his hardest to keep his eyes ahead but couldn’t help chance a few glances at Akaashi. He figured anyone would when they looked so beautiful in the young moon’s glow.</p><p>-</p><p>Orange clouded his view. Red sometimes passed through it but it always returned to orange.</p><p>He’d once learned from his mother that orange was the complement to blue. He heard it and laughed at the prospect but now, he had to wonder.</p><p>If orange could complement blue in the world he lived in, no matter how ridiculous it sounded, he thought he could be happy.</p><p>He would be content if blue and orange were to mix. Though, when he asked his mother what they turned into, out of curiosity, he’d been told that they would turn into a muted brown.</p><p>His nose had scrunched into itself.</p><p>If blue and orange were meant to complement the other, how could they possibly turn into something so unappealing, he said to his mother, more or less.</p><p>She had laughed at him, a light, caring, laugh.</p><p>She had told him that just because they don’t mix into something we deem pretty, doesn’t mean it isn’t important that it doesn’t exist. The shades in a tree existed because of that muted brown. The shades in the mountains looked dramatic, yet dangerous, because of that muted brown. Even muted brown could exist within importance, you just had to be open to it.</p><p>He saw that muted brown in everything. He saw it in the legs of his table back at home. He saw it in the leaves that dried up in the trees of the forest. He saw it in the dirt that covered his hands.</p><p>Muted brown could be beautiful.</p><p>He saw the muted brown when the midday light hit Akaashi’s hair, giving life to the curled tips of their hair. He traced the curves of their hair in his mind over and over and over; he thought it interesting how the shape held in such a way. But anything goes, it seemed, when it came to Akaashi, anything.</p><p>Muted brown was beautiful.</p><p>-</p><p>Closed eyes weakened his awareness of the world around him as he laid on the grass.</p><p>The stream trickled down the path it had slowly built itself over decades, centuries, just a few feet away.</p><p>It had been a while since he threw the ring haphazardly into the forest. He wasn’t sure that he would ever find it. Akaashi grew more nervous day by day around Bokuto because of it. Bokuto tried to ease their guilt with his presence but he was genuinely a bit saddened at the idea that he would never see the ring again.</p><p>They would usually walk for a good hour or two, he wasn’t sure. He would become hungry and then that marked that it was time to settle beside the river for a break. He walked a lot these days but he thought it was better than standing for hours; at least his legs were getting good movement  out of the walks.</p><p>That, along with being able to spend time with Akaashi. He tried not to be too happy about it when Akaashi was clearly feeling guilty but it was hard to settle the happy roaming bubbles in his heart when Akaashi would make up a story for Bokuto’s entertainment, or sat a little closer than usual, or shared another “power” of their’s (he’d been chided the first time he called them powers, after that he only called them that in his mind).</p><p>The grass around Bokuto’s limbs itched, Akaashi had previously told him he couldn’t do anything about it.</p><p>Despite not being able to see, he heard Akaashi shifting. They often did that when thinking. They sat next to him on the grass, sometimes the orange he saw in closed eyes was disrupted by a figure shifting above his eyes, translating them into red.</p><p>“What are you thinking about, Akaashi?” His voice was soft, only meant for them to hear. Not for the river, not for the bugs between the blades of grass.</p><p>Akaashi didn’t answer him, he could feel it coming though. He smiled at the thought, he felt it was premature of him to say but the idea that he could read Akaashi even in silence, felt nice.</p><p>It was no longer Bokuto creepily spying on them behind a tree out of wonder. They now knew each other. He felt that he knew Akaashi. Even if there was more to learn about them, which he didn’t doubt there was, he would gladly hang around to find the highly complex Akaashi.</p><p>“Bokuto-san.”</p><p>He hummed, “yeah?”</p><p>“I must ask you something.”</p><p>“Go on ahead.” He smiled, eyes still closed, orange overwhelming.</p><p>“...A while ago now, an object landed in front of my tree. Well, you could say it knocked violently into my tree, to then fall to the ground. It had woken me up and sent me to check on what it possibly could have been... It was a ring.”</p><p>Bokuto’s eyes shot open, eyes catching on Akaashi’s.</p><p>Blue.</p><p>Bokuto could laugh. What a chance that his ring would land right onto Akaashi’s tree. Before he could really think about that, Akaashi continued.</p><p>“It looked very similar to your description. Green emerald built into a gold band… Would you like to present an argument before I jump to conclusions.”</p><p>Akaashi’s eyes were narrowed, face forcefully neutral. Bokuto would slump into himself at the look, upset that he disappointed Akaashi.</p><p>But his stomach that was tumbling in nervousness had another agenda.</p><p>Akaashi knew, Akaashi knew this whole time. They had still searched with him. The guilt they felt now confused Bokuto but he paid no mind to that because Akaashi knew.</p><p>What could he say that wouldn’t be the truth. What couldn’t he say that would drive Akaashi away, exposing that he both lied to them and spied on Akaashi for an embarrassing amount of time. Maybe if they knew it was out of curiosity, that he thought they were kinda pretty and would like to hold their impossibly soft looking hand.</p><p>Ah, but, that was another thing. What could he say that wouldn’t ruin their friendship. What wouldn’t reveal his feelings for the spirit. If they wanted the whole truth, if they looked at him with those disapproving eyes, he would have to tell 
Akaashi, there would be no doubt about it.</p><p>But… he couldn’t tell Akaashi. They had just become comfortable around him and if he would have to avoid the forest because Akaashi could detect his presence, Bokuto didn’t know what he would do. The forest became a place Bokuto was able to find solace. It was more calming to tirelessly walk around, gaining pit stains, than to lie in his home, alone.</p><p>Alone.</p><p>If he were to tell Akaashi, if they were to reject him he would lose their company. He would lose a friend, a companion. He had quickly become attached to the spirit, not wanting to go a day without seeing them. If he were to be rejected, he would be alone again.</p><p>He loved Kono-san but… Akaashi held a place in his life in a different way, viewed in a different dimension that Kono-san could never.</p><p>“I… it was by chance?” He offered, barely making it past a dry throat and fired nerves.</p><p>The glare he received made him recoil. He sat up, dropping his head in shame, eyes following the lines of grass, he reached out to twiddle them.</p><p>“I t-threw the ring to honestly hide it,” he admitted in a mutter so small, he selfishly hoped Akaashi wouldn’t hear.</p><p>“Why?” Their voice sounded lighter, less accusing. Bokuto chanced a look, he was right, their face was more open.</p><p>“I didn’t think it was right to send us on a wild goose chase the next day to find a ring if there was no ring.”</p><p>They fell quiet, Bokuto’s heart felt like it was breaking the ribs surrounding it with how hard his heart was beating.</p><p>“I see. But… Why make up the ring in the first place? What would you have gained from that?” They were talking slowly, each word fell on him harder than the last.</p><p>Bokuto sucked in a breath. If he weren’t so delirious on a heavy heart, he would laugh at the furrowed brow in the middle of Akaashi’s face. He wished it weren’t there, that they could go back to being blue, his eyes back to orange as he laid on the grass.</p><p>It wasn’t so easy though. Akaashi was expecting the truth, did Bokuto have the heart to tell them, he wondered.</p><p>“I…” his eyes dropped to his hands, they held each other tightly so that they wouldn’t shake.</p><p>Here goes nothing, or everything, really.</p><p>“I lied to you because I-I had seen you before, weeks ago, weeks before we had met. I was curious about you when I first saw you. I was in the forest when I shouldn’t have been. I did that before even meeting or seeing you,“ he laughed bitterly, quietly.</p><p>“You l-looked interesting and my curiosity got the best of me,”</p><p>“I stayed a while, just observing the odd person in the forest. Animals would willingly go up to you and it kept me watching. I didn’t make it a habit to come find you everyday but after a few times I noticed you would be besides the stream so… I went to find you most days after that. When we properly met, I wasn’t expecting to. I never planned on talking to you, which sounds weirder now that I think about it,” he laughed to himself, not daring to look up to Akaashi’s eyes just yet.</p><p>“You found me lying in that ravine which, by the way, I would have been grateful to have met you any other way,”</p><p>“I… if I’m being honest, and I assume you want that,” his voice gave out in the last few words in favor of reluctantly looking up once more to Akaashi, trying to gauge their reaction so far.</p><p>Neutral, but one corner of their lip was quirked up in a way that you’d only ever notice unless you had become acquainted with it. His shoulders lessened by just as much.</p><p>“I wanted to get to know you, get to know what was underneath the mysteriousness. And um… so I made up the ring.”</p><p>He sighed, the truth was out there, whether he liked it or not. He knew to expect a response in time from Akaashi but at the moment he felt like digging a hole below him to hide in. The silence was expected, Akaashi did it often. It was deafening though.</p><p>“I-, sorry.” He said.</p><p>Abruptly standing, he looked anywhere but Akaashi. “I can go, I can probably find my way back home. Follow a star home right? It’s not night but I can find it, I-”</p><p>A hand. A soft hand, a hand bigger than his. It gripped his wrist, he slowly turned his head, trailing the pale hand up to a troubled looking Akaashi.</p><p>“Bokuto-san.” Akaashi whispered, face taking different shapes as they tried to remain neutral. He knew it, he’d seen it a million times when Bokuto would make an especially bad joke and Akaashi struggled to regain his composure. It was different now, but it was the same.</p><p>He sat back down, Akaashi took their hand back.</p><p>“I… there is no way you would be able to get yourself home like that,” they said in a sedated, even tone, though he assumed a bit of humor was intended in it. “Sorry… I know it’s unfair to ask, but if you will, may I ask one more question?”</p><p>He nodded, unable to give the shaky ‘sure’ he assumed would’ve come out of his mouth.</p><p>“What reason would you want to get to know me?”</p><p>Blue. Wide, blue, eyes catch his, impatiently awaiting his answer. He didn’t want to say, he didn’t. But Akaashi looked close to breaking and Bokuto couldn’t stand to see it, no matter the unknown reason.</p><p>A smile so soft, so warm it was out of place for the situation, he knew it. He knew that and yet, it remained on his face. How often do you get to confess with a smile on your face.</p><p>“The day I saw you, I thought it was calming to watch you. I had never seen your face though. When I first saw your eyes,” blue, “I thought they were beautiful. As I’ve gotten to know you, their impact has never faded, y’know. I… I hope that answers your question.”</p><p>His eyes dropped to the ground as he stood up again. “I hope you don’t hate me, Akaashi.” He smiled even though he knew it wouldn’t reach his eyes, and started walking away, aching to rid the image of a wide-eyed Akaashi.</p><p>But not for long as he was sent to the ground by a heavy force,</p><p>“Are you stupid!”</p><p>Stupid?</p><p>Bokuto?</p><p>Bokuto craned his head over his shoulder to see a furious, yet blushing Akaashi.</p><p>His own eyes widened, he scrambled to get out of Akaashi’s hold, successfully sitting upright,</p><p>“W-What?”</p><p>Akaashi glared, still red in the cheeks, at Bokuto with narrowed eyes and a strong hold on Bokuto’s shirt in their fist.</p><p>“I have enjoyed your company more than I initially thought I would’ve.” Ah, it started to click for him, his confusion lessened a little. Maybe he was a little stupid, he thought as he watched Akaashi struggle to keep their blush down, hands shaking with what he now saw were nerves of their own.</p><p>“I was lonely before I met you. The other forest spirits in close contact, we don’t talk much. While I was fine with just the forest’s inhabitants, the grass can be quite irritant.” Bokuto chuckled, their grip on his shirt loosened.</p><p>“Y-You’re very funny and amusing, Bokuto-san, much more than the grass,” Akaashi said in a hushed tone as their body curled more and more into Bokuto’s, their forehead resting on his shoulder.</p><p>His body, on the other hand, vibrated with giggles. He knew Akaashi was different than most, he never would have expected a confession from them of all, but their’s was the most ‘them’ it could have been.</p><p>He slowly wrapped Akaashi into an embrace, even though he was capable of doing so, he was in a state of pure shock. Bliss too, of course.</p><p>Akaashi had actually confessed.</p><p>Akaashi had confessed to him, Bokuto Koutarou.</p><p>He was… he was at least… sure it was a confession… right? Had he mixed it up? Oh god what if… what if he really did?</p><p>“Hey, Akaashi.” He whispered, trying to hide his panic.</p><p>Akaashi mumbled into his shirt, “yeah?”</p><p>“You like me, yeah?”</p><p>“...Yes.”</p><p>“Cool,” he calmed down, and chuckled to himself again. “I do too.”</p><p>“I’m glad.” They said, smile evident in their voice.</p><p>“I also like you too,” Akaashi pulled away from his shoulder, narrowed eyes, picking up the real meaning of the previous response.</p><p>“I’m glad.” They said slower, smile less evident in their voice.</p><p>Bokuto grinned, Akaashi rolled their eyes.</p><p>Akaashi’s hands slowly moved their way into his peripheral, resting on the sides of his face.</p><p>“What are you-?”</p><p>He was cut off by his face being squished, he tried his best to glare at Akaashi but Akaashi was smiling, well smirking, but he would take it.</p><p>Akaashi thankfully un-squished his face, but their hands still remained holding his face. He didn’t dare to breathe as Akaashi’s smirk formed into a real smile, blue eyes the warmest they’d ever been.</p><p>Bokuto couldn’t, wouldn’t, look away as they leaned in.</p><p>Blue eyes turned into orange as Bokuto closed his eyes.</p><p>Muted brown.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. night after night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The branch creaked in betrayal under their feet, leaves ruffling in harmony. Their eyes latched onto the human below, looking for any sign that the human noticed the irregular movement of the tree’s leaves. Nothing.</p><p>The human waded through the forest without a care, head whipping here and there, eyes wide, cheeks flushed.</p><p>Akaashi followed the human closely within the trees, jumping from branch to branch, skillfully hiding behind the leaves.</p><p>This wasn’t the first time a human had wandered into the forest. It was, however, the first time this human had.</p><p>What made them different to Akaashi, they weren’t sure. But they knew that as a forest spirit, they had to remain vigilant around humans. They were taught by the forest creatures to be wary of humans ever since they had learned of fire and were able to make weapons that could potentially bring harm to the forest.</p><p>Most humans didn’t seem to seek to harm the forest, they mostly wandered in to find some herb or another and quickly took their leave.</p><p>This human, again, was different.</p><p>They came in as any other human, but instead of picking a plant and leaving, they stayed in the forest from just after sunrise to nearly sunset.</p><p>Akaashi followed them the entire time, much to the forest’s disdain. They heard their cries of help, which were mainly a stick broken by an animal or a bug had eaten their leaf. Akaashi assumed they would live.</p><p>Akaashi wasn’t sure of this human’s intention, various options clouded their mind:</p><p>Were they here to scout out the best way to bring the forest down?</p><p>Akaashi dismissed the thought but not entirely, surely if the human had wanted to burn the forest to the ground they would have done it already. Unless they were waiting for other human’s to join them.</p><p>But… this human didn’t look like they were full of malice. Akaashi had seen the way it looked when it hung in a human’s eyes. But this human didn’t show any of the usual cues.</p><p>They watched the human intently as they lay on the grass floor of the forest. Their eyes were open, but just so. They seemed to be watching the sky.</p><p>Akaashi jumped to a closer tree. The human, uncharacteristically, held still on the ground for a while. Akaashi was curious, they searched their body language for any mal intent, thinking the human could possibly be scheming against the forest.</p><p>But still, there was none.</p><p>Only golden eyes and a rested smile to show anything forth.</p><p>Akaashi was confused. How could this human stay in the forest so much longer than every other human who had left just as soon as they came in. What made this human different and why had they never shown before?</p><p>Akaashi’s raging mind came to a stop as the human shifted into a standing position. Akaashi jumped to a tree behind the human, where they wouldn’t be caught.</p><p>Akaashi watched as the human’s head swiveled, shoulders slowly caving in on themselves. Ah, Akaashi thought to themselves, they were lost.</p><p>Akaashi pondered whether to help the human or not. Helping them would alleviate the forest of a possible threat. If they were to help the human, how would they do it in a way that wouldn’t reveal their existence?</p><p>Akaashi knew where the human had entered if they could just lead them to it…</p><p>An idea popped into their head.</p><p>Akaashi slowly parted the tree’s leaves, showing an easy path back to where they had arrived. There was just enough light from the remaining sunset to make a clear path. Fortunately, the human had noticed.</p><p>As the human walked through the path, Akaashi followed up until the skirt of the forest. As they walk out, they notice their fallen shoulders and dragging feet.</p><p>-</p><p>The human had come back multiple times, too many for Akaashi to keep count. Akaashi never allowed themselves to be seen, but they always tailed the human.</p><p>Akaashi knew that the human wasn’t wielding a passion to burn the forest down. They already knew by the amount of time the human had spent there. The human would sometimes exclaim about the forest aloud. The comments made Akaashi’s heart swell with pride but that was something else.</p><p>This day however,  there was no word of the human had around their usual time.
Akaashi had perched themselves into the tree by the stream the human had found themselves coming back to.</p><p>When Akaashi realized the human wouldn’t be coming, they fell to the ground, deflated.</p><p>Akaashi should have seen this coming, though it did surprise Akaashi if they were being honest. Akaashi had thought the human enjoyed being in the forest, what reason was there for them to stop coming?</p><p>But it was good, they told themselves. Despite the human proving that they weren’t a threat, they could very well turn out to be one and it would be Akaashi’s fault for not having the foresight to keep them out.</p><p>But if they were honest, they had grown attached to the amusing human.</p><p>The human often talked aloud to themselves, only looking to entertain themselves but Akaashi found themselves smiling, or even holding back a laugh, at whatever they babbled out.</p><p>Forest spirits weren’t supposed to talk to humans, they weren’t even supposed to be seen by them. But when the human would talk to themselves, Akaashi wondered what it would be like to talk to them. For the human to talk back.</p><p>“Here!” The grass’ cry suddenly filled Akaashi’s ears, “The human! Here!” 
Akaashi stilled.</p><p>When a cry of the forest reached their ear, they instinctively knew where it was coming from, even down to the smallest bug.</p><p>The grass’ cry came from behind the tree multiple steps in front of them but nonetheless, in front of them.</p><p>On some level, Akaashi should’ve known not to plant themselves in front of the stream in plain sight when there was still the possibility that the human would come into the forest. But the irregular time they showed was unfortunate really.</p><p>Akaashi peeked an eye open to confirm the human’s presence.</p><p>Sure enough, the gray haired human stood hovering behind a tree. The tree confirmed as well with a hummed,</p><p>“The human.”</p><p>The trees were more solemn in their cries, Akaashi would describe them as more taps on the shoulder, just to show they’re there. Older age came with less urgency, they figured. The grass would never know such luxury, neither would Akaashi’s ears.</p><p>The tree’s words, “the human,” rang in their ears.</p><p>The forest had come to know the human in several ways. They were no longer, “a human!” They were The Human. The human the forest inhabitants knew that the forest spirit had become amused by, or even fond of, depending on the inhabitant you asked.</p><p>The forest had also come to tease the forest spirit.</p><p>As the human continued to hide behind the tree, the bugs kept Akaashi updated no matter how much Akaashi mentally told them off.</p><p>“He’s tall! The human’s tall. Gray hair. Nice hair. Black too, there’s black lines.”</p><p><em>He?</em> Akaashi thought back to the bugs, <em>How do you know?</em></p><p>“We know! Just because.”</p><p>Akaashi had hoped for a deeper explanation but they couldn’t dwell on it for long, they had to focus on the current situation. The human was still standing behind the tree and Akaashi knew the next steps for this.</p><p>They had to continue acting human as long as they were in the human’s sight. If they could convince the human that they were human, i.e., of no interest, then they could escape and remain hidden until he left the forest altogether.</p><p>But as it stood, the human remained staring so Akaashi wasn’t allowed to jump.</p><p>They racked their mind for anything they could do to get the human to leave. They could call a forest animal to come distract him. They could spring a flower to life in the corner of the human’s eye. They could ask an animal to attack him so they could jump quickly.</p><p>But the stare they felt digging into their body told them none of those would work. They didn’t know what was so interesting about themselves for the human to be staring so intently.</p><p>Unlike the human when Akaashi stared at him, Akaashi wasn’t doing anything of even slight interest. They were sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, face remaining neutral.</p><p>They weren’t sighing loudly to themselves as a ladybug passed by them. They weren’t running through the forest, eyes closed, uncaring of the multiple bushes they would have hit if it weren’t for Akaashi casting them gently aside.</p><p>They weren’t doing anything but breathing, what could he possibly be interested in?</p><p>Time ran on, the human and Akaashi equally unmoving.</p><p>Akaashi’s panic had dwindled the longer they sat. All they had to do was to sit until the human decided it was time to leave around dusk as he usually did. Akaashi wasn’t fidgeting, they could sit for the rest of time if they needed to. But it was a little disappointing that the human watched an unamusing show while Akaashi could have been silently laughing at whatever comment they had made.</p><p>“A sigh. The human sighed.” The bugs cried out in a pout, they seemed to like the human as well.</p><p>Usually when the human sighed though, that meant he was getting ready to turn back.</p><p>“The path! The human is leaving!” The grass along the path Akaashi had created, cried out.</p><p>“When will you put back our branches?” The trees’ deep exhale of a cry washed over Akaashi as the human walked past them. “What will happen with the human? What will you do, spirit?”</p><p>They wouldn’t answer the first cry, they knew it would come out a lie. In truth, the path would remain as long as the human wandered in.</p><p>The second cry however, were packed with multiple questions. Questions Akaashi wasn’t sure they were prepared to answer.</p><p>One answer held true though. Forest spirits weren’t supposed to be seen by humans.</p><p>-</p><p>Normally Akaashi didn’t have a hard time sticking to that rule.</p><p>But this human had been different from the start and Akaashi had started to curse it.</p><p>Akaashi had been sitting by the river, recounting all the tasks they had to get to. Akaashi hadn’t thought anything of where they were resting, the human had never been to this river, he only ever went to stare at Akaashi at the stream.</p><p>Which, at that point, had been more times than Akaashi was proud to admit.</p><p>The trees questioned the spirit at the end of every day, when the human left down the path. Akaashi had not come up with a reasonable explanation for the human to continue being able to see them when it was clearly against the rules. Akaashi wasn’t sure how to reason it even internally to themselves.</p><p>Maybe some part of Akaashi hoped the human would approach them but he never did. The human always found himself behind the tree, deeming staring from a distance enough.</p><p>Akaashi was sure any other human would have approached them.</p><p>But instead of approaching them, the human found it more appropriate to seek the forest spirit out when they didn’t seem to be at the stream, just to continue staring at them.</p><p>“The human,” the trees familiarly hummed, though from a different spot than Akaashi was used to. It had taken everything in Akaashi to not whip their head to the spot.</p><p>They peeked over the side of their shoulder, catching a glimpse of the human, to confirm or just to catch what seemed to be a rare glimpse these days. They weren’t sure which was worse.</p><p>The human was indeed there, head pulled ever so slightly to the side, hair giving them away as anything but part of the forest. Akaashi would laugh at the sight, his inability to be subtle gave him away at every turn regardless of the forest’s cries.</p><p>Akaashi faced the river, hand continuing to run through the water. The river had been telling Akaashi what they needed fixed just before the human had distracted them.</p><p>His arrival time was unfortunate really.</p><p>“The carp,” the river continued, ”there was one carp that had eaten too much. There isn’t enough food for the rest of the carps. This is urgent. The carp population in the river will die if they are not fed before midday.”</p><p>Akaashi’s hand stilled.</p><p>The human wouldn’t leave before midday. They were lucky if he left before sunset. They would have to fix this now but the human was still behind the tree.</p><p>It didn’t seem they had much of a choice.</p><p>Akaashi rose, walking the bottom of the river’s floor. They sat, the water rising to their chest as they settled into the dirt of the river.</p><p>Their hands fell into their lap, they called to the carp of the river. Akaashi gently asked if they could gather in a way that the human wouldn’t think anything of it.</p><p>The carp kindly accommodated.</p><p>In Akaashi’s palm, all types of mollusks, seeds, insects grew, extracting themselves when they grew to their full size.</p><p>Akaashi only hoped it appeared as a human action in the human’s eyes.</p><p>Though it took longer than usual because of the human’s presence, the forest spirit was done feeding the carp. They had properly scolded the greedy carp as well.</p><p>They lifted themselves out of the river, water running off their skin as easily as it had clung. Walking to a tree just beside the river, they fell to the ground with a silent sigh.</p><p>Akaashi wasn’t sure how long it was until the human took his leave. It was around sunset as usual, though he left a little earlier.</p><p>They stayed resting against the tree, deciding not to follow them. Though they wished they had when the teasing cries from the forest began to roll in.</p><p>“He came to find you! The human looks for you.” The bugs teased.</p><p>“The path! There is no path for-!” Akaashi hushed the grass, they had enough of the grass who had no decency to warn them of the human’s unusual presence earlier.</p><p>“What will you do, spirit?” The trees, as usual, chimed.</p><p>“The human has tripped." Trees by the ravine, to their surprise, softly cried. "He is steady. The human has tripped again. He is steady. The human has tripped. Oh. The human is falling, spirit.”</p><p><em>Falling? Falling where, tree?</em> They asked, just to confirm, hopeful that they misheard.</p><p>“The ravine, spirit. He has fallen down the ravine. Still is.”</p><p>Akaashi jumped before they could even fully process the tree’s words. All they needed to hear was, “ravine,” once again to jump without a thought.</p><p>They jumped to a branch that hung over the ravine. The human was indeed falling. 
Akaashi panicked at the sight and at what they could do, if they should do anything.</p><p>Akaashi could jut out a part of the ravine’s walls to stop his fall but that would probably only project him to the other side of the ravine, resulting in a more hurt human.</p><p>Akaashi could cause a sudden outbreak of the dry stream at the bottom but if it was too large, and the human couldn’t swim, he would die. Or be swept away.</p><p>What could they do? They could-</p><p>Blood.</p><p>Blood started to bud from the human’s body.</p><p>They had already broken the forest spirit rule revolving around human’s anyways.</p><p>Akaashi jumped just behind the human where he had come to a stop in his fall. They were nervous. They had never talked to a human. What would be different? What would be the same? How should Akaashi hold themselves? What was a human way to stand?</p><p>A hiss from the human as they attempted to stand brought Akaashi out of their panic. Their eyes zeroed in on all the points the human had scuffed themselves. Red streaks fell down just their palms, they didn’t look to be deep wounds but they surely hurt and possibly lead to infection. Despite that, they miraculously didn’t seem to be bleeding elsewhere.</p><p>The human’s knees shook as they struggled to remain off the ground.</p><p>They couldn’t take the sight.</p><p>“Ahem.”</p><p>They said, attempting to grab his attention. Their voice had not wavered, gratefully.</p><p>The human stopped moving but his attempt to stand fell as he did, thudding to the ground. No groan came, but their eyes met.</p><p>Akaashi would smile at the sight of widened golden eyes if they weren’t so nervous.</p><p>This human had no mal intent, and Akaashi knew they were about to be beyond breaking the forest spirit rule.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>tysm for reading this and for those who've commented!! they got me to finish this fic even though i had never planned on dropping it at all, writing can be hard sometimes KJSDFH anyways ty i hope you enjoyed it :'&gt;</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>&gt;:&gt; we here at cowboyjones thank you for reading and wish that you receive a &lt;3 its important to our gay lifestyles that you also experience a :3c</p></blockquote></div></div>
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